Machinery for drying



2 Sheets-Sheet 1. N. L. MANNING.

Feather Rn'ovator.

No. 2,053. Patented April 16, 1841.

N. FEIERS, Pnmlnm mr, Wnhingion. ac.

Sheet 2.

2 Sheets N.' L. MANNING. Feather Renovatonf Patented April 16. 1841,

N PETERQ Photo-Lithograph". Wnhingiun. D C.

NATHANIEL L. MANNING, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

MACHINERY FOR DRYING, WHIPPING, AND CLEANSING FEATHERS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 2,053, dated April 16, 1841.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, NATHANIEL L. MAN- NING, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Machinery for Drying, l/Vhipping, and Cleansing Feathers, and that the following is a full and exact description of the same.

The said description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings hereinafter referred to composes my specification, setting forth the principles of my improvements (by which they may be distinguished from other inventions of a like character) and such parts or combinations therein as I claim to be my invention and for which I solicit Letters Patent.

In the drawings Figure 1 represents a side view, Fig. 2 a vertical longitudinal sect-ion, Fig. 3 a top View with the cover removed, and Fig. 4, a transverse vertical section of the aforesaid machinery for drying, whipping and cleansing feathers.

The feathers to be operated are put in a rectangular or other proper shaped box A,

Figs. 1, 2, 8, 4t, resting in a suitable framewhich is so arranged as to support the same and the other parts of the machinery. In the machine herein described, this frame consists of four posts B, B, B, B, two of which in each side are connected together by longitudinal rails D D, and the opposite posts by transverse rails E E as exhibited in the drawings. A rectangular frame F is placed in the bottom of the box A and wires c, a, a, are to be extended upon this frame from one end to the opposite, parallel to each other and at one inch apart more or less as seen in Figs. 2,. 3, 4.. The feathers when thrown into the box fall and rest upon this grating. Directly under the wires a a is another rectangular frameG which is fitted into the top of a draw or box H, which latter is so arranged upon cleats I I screwed to the underside of the box A, like a common draw, as to be easily drawn out or removed from its position, at pleasure. The frame G has a sieve or wire netting K Figs. 2, 8, 4, extended over the same, which when in place, will be a short distance under and parallel with the wires a, a. A pipe or funnel L Figs. 1, 2, 4 is introduced in a suitable manner into the bottom of the draw or box H, the said pipe communicating with a close stove in which charcoal or other suitable fuel is burned and from which the carbonic-acid and other gases escape and pass through the pipe L into the box H and thence circulate upward and through the feathers, thus acting upon and drying and neutralizing any of the decaying animal matter of the feathers, which produces the unpleasant etfluvia that usually escapes therefrom.

In order to break up the bunches and effectually separate the feathers, so as to cleanse them of foreign matters, during the process of drying them, by the products of the combustion of charcoal or fuel, burning without any injurious quantity of smoke, I make use of a whipping apparatus, which I now proceed to describe. Each side of the box A has a long horizontal groove M cut therein, through which the end of a cross shaft N is inserted. The shaft N has two or more bows O, 0, Figs. 2, 3, 4c, aflixed to it, the said bows being metallic rods, having a portion of each of their ends bent at right angles, and inserted in the shaft N as exhibited in Fig. 3. A piece of cloth P is attached at one edge to the shaft N, the three remaining edges having eyelet holes, formed through the same, through which lacings' .tion among the feathers, to assist in throwing or blowing them out of the box A, one end of which'is capable of being removed; and thus after the feathers are beaten by the hows, the sails are spread, and when revolved create such a wind as blows all the liner qualities of the feathers out of the end of the box,'and in this manner, the coarse kind may be separated from the finer. The

shaft N is to be put in rapid revolution and" moved longitudinally to and fro in the grooves M, from one end of the box toward the other so as to cause the bows O O to pass entirely through the whole mass of feathers, whipping and blowingthem about in the box, thereby causing the dust and extraneous matters, separated by this process to fall through or between the wires it, a, a, and upon or through the sieve or netting K into the draw H from which they can be easily removed by withdrawing the same.

The method of causing the shaft N to traverse throughout the box is thus de' scribed. Two rails or rods 0, (Z, Figs. 1, 4,

are arranged parallel to each other on one side of the frame.

the latter to the lower edge of the upperbar D. They serve to support a frame a,

whicln-the workman applies hishands and turns the coggedYwheel, thereby putting the shaft Nand bows O O in rapid revolution. Asmall pinion I: Fig.4, is placed on the opposite or inner; end of the shaft of the wheel h,in rear of said wheel and frame a,

thejsaid pinionengaging with a cogged:

wheel Z, placed, playing loosely or turning upon theshaft N. .A small pulley m Fig. 5 israttached. to therearside of the Wheel Z,

fsoas to move with the wheel Z, and also in rear of the said pulley m, and playing loosely in,the shaft N, is 'a small piece of metal a, h-avingtwo holes or eyes 0, 79, to

one of which: the extremity of a cord or band 9, Fig: 1, is attached, the said cord beingblown out or through the same, by

the said piece covering thegroove, a distance equal to its length. i From thence the co passing thence to and around a pulley or sheave r, in the post B of the frame, thence to andturns once entirely about the pulley m, continuing from thence to andover the pulleys, and is drawn tight and joined. to the other eye, 0, of the piece a. In lieuof the pulley m, a small pinion having a suitable number of teeth maybe substituted,

thesaid pinion to operate in a chain belt used insteadof the band q. Another piece a, band Q, and pulleysr', s, are similarly arranged on the opposite side of the box A, the same being seen by dotted linesin Fig.

2, and to insure their action,-the two opposite pulleys at one end of the machine, are connected together by a cross shaft a Fig. 3.

The .groovegM, through each side of the boxis closed as the shaft N, progresses to i and. fro, so as to prevent the feathers from a band D, (see Figs. 1, 2, 3,) one of whose ends is attached to one endof a piece of metal u, arranged on the shaft N, and through whichthe shaft passes and turns,

band D passes to and around a vertical pulley a; thencecoiitinues on the outslde of the box, to and around another and similar vertical pulley 10, at its otherfend and from thence after being strained tight, it is attaohed to the other extremity of the piece The former is applied to the upper edge of the lower bar D, and

The cogged wheel h, hasa escape of feathers, or the same. from clogging in the slo't,=and thereby preventing the movement of the shaft N. After the shaft N has passed entirelythroughout the length of the slots M, ink'each side of the box, sot-hat the whole. of the feathers have been Whipped, and, blown about, by the action of the bOVVSqO O, the attendant who operates the machine, turns the crank 71 in the opposite directions, and reverses the inotion of the shaft N, which now travels back through theslots "M toward the opposite end of the box A. I find that the method herein describedof whipping and separating the feathers bymeans of the bows :O 0,

attached to theshaft N, is far superior to the application to said shaft. of arms projecting therefrom. i i

As the shaftN is put in rapid revolution, the bows successively and progressively pass through the massuof feathers acting on the whole of the same at each passage of the shaft throughout the box, and so effectual is their operations,-that the dirtand extraneousmatters are all blown through the wire netting, and sieveunder the same into the box or draw H. The carbonic acid and other products resulting from the combustion of oharcoaljas beforedescribed, being admitted into the box through the pipe L, are completely circulated among the feathers by the bows, thus destroying all. unpleasant eflluvia, drying them, and restoring their necessary elasticity.

In order to disseminate thegases and hot air more generally upon the-feathers, I place over the mouth of the pipe L or where it 'enters the bottom of thedralw H a piece of sheet iron a: (see Fig.2 and 4), curved in its transverse section, and extending some considerable distance on each side of the inouth of the tube, as exhibited inFig. 2, where the passage ofTthe gases is denoted by arrows. Now as the "carbonic acid-is drawn through the ipipe L, it impinges against the center 0 the curved piece of sheeti-ron m, and separates and escapes into the box, through the openings 21 '3 Fig. 2,- at each end of the said piece w.

l The box A has a suitable coverR, Figs,

l, 2,3 aportion z of-the end ofwhic'h is hungon hinges, so as to be raised at pleasure ulate the admission of the external air to the I Instead of causing the shaft'and whipping bows to travel throughoutthe box, as before described, the former may be ar ranged so as to remain, in one position, due

in order to introduce the feathers, or to mg ing its revolutions and the wires on which the feathers are deposited, and the sieves may be carried back and forth under the same by a somewhat similar disposition of the machinery, but as this would embody the application of principles already set forth, I do not deem it necessary to particularlydescribe the same, as it will be appar- 1 ent to the generality of mechanicians.

Having thus described my improvements I shall claim 7 1. The mode hereinbefore described of drying and cleansing the feathers, by means of carbonic acid gas, hot air and other prod said shaft revolves in any convenient manner, or said shaft may be moved over the mass of feathers and back and forth throughout the box, by means of a band and pulley, or a chain belt and cogged pinion operated as above described.

3. I claim closing the elongated slots or apertures in the sides of the box, so that none of the feathers may escape or impede the operations of the machinery, as the revolving shaft is moved to and fro, by means of the band laying over the same and traveling over drums or pulleys and operated by the revolving shaft as hereinbefore set forth.

In testimony that the above is a true description of my said invention and improvement I have hereto set my signature this thirteenth day of February in the 'year eighteen hundred and forty one.

NA'IHL. L. MANNING.

Witnesses:

R. H. EDDY, EZRA LINCOLN, Jr. 

